VAI pilot studie in glioblastomen

Glioblastomas (GBM) are the most malignant brain tumours with low survival rates. Treatment failure causes this tumour to inevitably recur, making close monitoring of GBM patients essential. The gold standard for follow-up is anatomical MR imaging based on contrast enhancement. However, this imaging method is hindered by pseudo-progression which can resemble true tumour progression, but is in fact due to treatment effects.



Functional imaging methods have been employed to overcome the limitations of anatomical MRI by measuring biological aspects of the tumour. Tumour neovascularisation, a hallmark of glioblastoma progression, can be visualised by perfusion MRI. Current perfusion MRI techniques rely on leakage from vessels and do not accurately demonstrate microvasculature.



Vessel Architectural Imaging (VAI) is a novel perfusion MRI technique which can acquire a plethora of additional perfusion parameters, such as oxygenation and vessel diameter. The practicability and accuracy of VAI for differentiating treatment effects from tumor progression in glioblastoma treatment evaluation has not been studied before.



This study aims to establish the practicability and diagnostic accuracy of VAI-MRI in treatment evaluation of glioblastoma.

Can vessel

Ten treated glioblastoma patients with a new enhancing lesion on conventional follow-up MRI will undergo VAI-MRI. The definite diagnosis will be made radiologically according to the appropriate guidelines (RANO criteria).

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